Hundreds in Lake County lose insurance

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In Lake County, 454 people lost their unemployment insurance on Dec. 28, according to the California Employment Development Department. Nationwide, 1.3 million people lost the insurance, including nearly 213,793 people in California. An additional 200,000 have people have lost their unemployment coverage since then.

Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield) urged action in the House of Representatives to restore the unemployment insurance extension.

The House, with a vote schedule controlled by Speaker John Boehner and the Republican majority leadership, just wrapped up its first session and did not restore unemployment insurance. Another 100,000 Americans will lose their unemployment benefits before Jan. 28.

Garamendi, along with 114 other members of Congress, sent a letter to Boehner urging him to delay the district recess until an unemployment insurance extension is voted on.

"There are legitimate policy discussions to be had about exactly how we should extend federal unemployment insurance, but we cannot find common ground when the House of Representatives is not in session and when this legislation is not even being considered in the House. The clock is ticking," the letter stated. "This is why we urge you to cancel the pending district work period and keep the House of Representatives in session until both the House and Senate have sent legislation to the president to extend emergency federal unemployment benefits."

Garamendi also joins 163 other members of Congress in cosponsoring the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act, which would extend emergency unemployment insurance for three months to give Congress an opportunity to develop a longer term solution.

"I can't force a vote, but I can force a conversation. The letters and calls my office is getting from constituents who don't know how they're going to feed their families, who don't know how they're going to pay their rent, are heartbreaking," Garamendi said. "We need a comprehensive jobs plan in America, and we need it now. Until then, so long as there are three jobseekers for every job available in America, we must continue with the unemployment insurance extension."

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that a one-year extension of unemployment insurance would create 200,000 jobs because these funds are quickly spent by recipients just to get by.

Critics of the extension argue that it discourages workers from seeking jobs. In America today, there are about three unemployed workers for every job opening.